The fashion director of Nordstrom says of Kate Middleton's style, "She is stylish, but she's not setting trends, she's following trends. If you take Kate out of the Royal Family, put her on a street in New York, you wouldn't look at her twice. She's a beautiful woman, but she blends into a crowd." Elle's Anne Slowey adds, "Is she a style icon of the likes of a Kate Moss? Absolutely not. Is she in the public eye? Are people going to become obsessed with everything she wears regardless of what it is? Yes." All of these things seem not only true but pretty much beyond dispute. People have demonstrated that they will buy whatever Kate Middleton wears, and because of her position, she's not likely to be busting out the Chalayan or the Margiela anytime soon. [Daily Mail]

Yesterday, Jeremy Scott showed a spring collection inspired by Americana kitsch. There were vinyl cow-print chaps, fringed chaps, long chaps, chap-shorts — really, just about every kind of chap was represented. Think Elly May Clampett pigtails and metal-mesh dresses printed to look like Idaho potato sacks. Andrej Pejic walked, and Michael Stipe and Peaches Geldof were there, and the clothes were so exuberant the show-weary fashion press found it hard not to crack a smile. Women's Wear Daily
has pictures. [WWD
]
As for the Blonds, they put on a typically entertaining show. The Blonds do corsetry, extremely elaborate corsetry made of unconventional materials — disco balls; chain mail; there was even a springbok corset, pictured, that needs to be part of our One Million Years B.C.
costume, stat. And the Blonds are basically the gayest thing ever to touch a woman's breasts. Their shows are fun, because the crowd that turns up isn't dressing for approval, they're dressing for expression. The people-watching is practically as much fun as the collection. And it's not like most shows, where everyone stews in an atmosphere of anxiety, tormented by the fear that somewhere nearby, someone is getting one more molecule of access/prestige/swag/air/publicity than they are. You actually talk to your seat-mates at the Blonds. You introduce yourself. You laugh. You see Kat Denning in a gravity-defiant styrofoam-trellis'd hairdo that she made herself. You see Miss J. and Mr. Jay chatting it up before the show. You see Amanda Lepore. You see a dude in a yellow bow-tie and blue jeweled graduation robes and he's not even sitting in the front row, he just came that way because he is awesome. So that was nice.
Clutches like these have earned Nicole Richie an Accessories Council Excellence award. Giving an award to a famous person is a great way of making sure she shows up to bring press to your industry event! [WWD
]
We wonder what they were talking about. Your take in the comments! [CBS
]
Perhaps, just perhaps, they were talking about the neon puffball dress she was wearing. A young designer named Jessica Raye Rogers
, who made a slightly different neon puffball dress claims that months ago claims Nicki Minaj's people contacted her, seeking additional pictures of her work. Nothing came of it — until Minaj was photographed in an outfit that strongly resembles the designer's original. The designer, naturally, feels she was knocked off. [CocoPerez
]
Some famous sweaters, illustrated. [WOW
]

Boston University professor (and Jezebel contributor) Ashley Mears has an excellent op-ed in the Times today about the conditions under which models labor: "'We are meat,' a Parisian male model told me matter-of-factly in a recent interview, 'and it gets bad as it gets old.' Decades of critiquing representations of bodies in fashion have not changed what we see on the catwalk; reforming the conditions backstage just might. Empowering models as workers could potentially help them stand up against other aspects of the industry, like unhealthy expectations about dieting." [NYTimes]

And now, a dispatch from Eric Wilson: "Before the start of the Michael Kors show Wednesday morning, Rachel Zoe gamely fielded questions from style reporters near and far, but all they wanted to know about was her baby. 'Where is your baby?' 'What designers does your baby wear?' 'What will be the first show you bring your baby to?' 'Do you think he has his own sense of style?' Baby Skyler, by the way, is 5 months old. After the runway cleared, I leaned over and asked her, 'How many fingers does your baby have?' It took a few seconds before she realized that I was pulling her leg." [On The Runway]

Yves Carcelle, who has headed Louis Vuitton for more than two decades, is leaving his position. His replacement will take over next year. This seems consonant with other moves that are going on at Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy: Marc Jacobs, who is currently the creative director of Louis Vuitton, is being courted for the top design job at Christian Dior. [WWD]

Gap, which fired its creative director, Anna Wintour favorite Patrick Robinson, earlier this year is said to be close to naming a successor. [WWD]

New York rounded up some show-goers for opinions on whether fashion week has gotten "too corporate." Robin Givhan responded, "The industry long ago stopped being this sort of charming, mom-and-pop world, and became much more corporate. But the corporate gave us Marc Jacobs, and it gave us Tom Ford, so I think it's just sort of a gut reaction to say that because it's become more corporate it's somehow become more sanitized. I do think, at least here [in New York] there's far more new, younger designers who have the ability to show because of corporate sponsorship than we ever see in Milan or Paris. I mean, seeing a new designer in Milan is a rare thing." [The Cut]

A French court has ruled that Hermès, which is publicly traded, may create a non-listed holding company to try to head off LVMH's attempts to acquire it. [WWD]

Hadley Freeman's New York fashion week wrap-up piece is thoughtful and considered, as usual, but what struck us is this line: "When future generations go to I Love the Noughties parties, they will wear Juicy Couture tracksuits and Ugg boots." We would add that they will also wear those silky cargo pants, the hems of which it was fashionable to cinch with the ankle straps of your very, very pointy-toed high heels in 2003. Also, let's have an I Love The Noughties party. [Guardian]

After just two seasons together, and only weeks before the spring collection is set to walk in Paris, Ungaro has announced Giles Deacon will no longer be working for the house. Ungaro's ups and (mostly) downs — plunging sales, shuttered boutiques, the Lindsay Lohan Incident — are legion; this doesn't inspire confidence. [WWD]

Esprit is getting out of the North American market. The company, which announced an annual profit of just $10 million (down from $547 million the year before), says it is divesting itself of its North American holdings, as well as those in Sweden, Spain, and Denmark. [WWD]

H&M reported that its revenues declined by 3%, to $4.9 billion, during the quarter just ended. Same-store sales dropped in July, but were flat in August. [WWD]